LONDON—Forget green fields and clouds. Blazing sunshine and rows of grapevines are now a growing part of the English countryside, leading to a rise in locally produced sparkling wine—boosted this year by a bumper harvest.
At the Chapel Down winery in Kent, about 40 miles southeast of London, dozens of fruit-pickers are busy loading grapes into bins for the harvest, which is about 60 percent bigger than last year’s.
